In order to make sure that these professors, of course all in good faith, insha'Allah, [if God wills] portray Islam correctly, having some Muslim students in the classroom would be beneficial, even though these courses do not fill general requirements.

There you have it, in black in white: Islam at the university must be taught in a pious, Sunday-school manner. Implicit in this demand (note the "insha'Allah") is that such courses serve da`wa purposes, namely that they attract converts to Islam.

To make sure this is the case, an Islamist organization recruits Islamist students to make their presence felt. Presumably, should the instructor say something they disapprove of, the students will complain loudly and their grievances will be dealt with as legitimate, to the point that the careers of professors Cummings and O'Connor could well be affected. They will presumably feel pressure to present Islam and Muslims uncritically.

This process of apologetics is already well underway at university-level Middle East studies. I have documented one key symptom, the unwillingness of Middle East specialists to acknowledge the meaning of jihad. More broadly, my colleague Jonathan Calt Harris has shown how scholars avoid the whole topic of militant Islam.

To which I say, Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to incipient dhimmitude, a state in which (among other features) non-Muslims dare not say anything critical about Islam and Muslims.

Back to the classroom: while students certainly have the right to attend the classes of their choice, in the spirit of staving off dhimmitude, I offer the services of Campus Watch to professors who find themselves subjected to pressure by an Islamist organization.

Related Topics:Academia, Middle East studies, Radical Islam | Daniel Pipesreceive the latest by email: subscribe to the free mef mailing listThis text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete and accurate information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.